Belgium has been hit by a spate of drone sightings in early November that have repeatedly grounded air traffic, and now Britain, France and Germany have decided to help by sending personnel and equipment, writes Politico.
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken thanked his British friends for their decision to deploy a drone-fighting team in Belgium. France and Germany have announced similar decisions in recent days.
Airports in Brussels and Liege suspended operations after unidentified drones were spotted in their airspace. They have also been spotted over the port of Antwerp and several Belgian military bases.
Drones have been increasingly spotted over critical infrastructure in the European Union in recent months. The European Commission has called it part of Russia’s hybrid operations against the bloc. Russia has denied the accusations.
On the 6th of November,
Francken convened the Belgian Security Council,
and after its meeting, he announced that Belgium was preparing to open a National Air Security Center, which could be fully operational from the 1st of January. In the meantime, the Belgian government has asked for help from other European countries, which have now sent air force experts to help. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has indicated that the drone attacks are related to EU negotiations on transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine so that it can defend itself against a full-scale invasion by Moscow. Most of the frozen assets are under Belgian supervision.
Pistorius said on the 7th of November that the drones were being launched to sow insecurity and intimidate Belgium, and to send a message that the frozen assets must not be touched. The German Defense Minister indicated that this cannot be perceived in any other way.
The Belgian government has not directly blamed Russia for the drone attacks, but the country’s intelligence service has no doubt about the origin of the drones. Francken said Russia is absolutely a credible suspect.
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